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The Challenger Deep is not the deepest point of the ocean.
The Challenger Deep is the deepest point of our planet. 6.8 miles below the ground we walk on, and nearly completely desolate. A true marvel of the Earth, and a miraculous piece of geography.
Up until recently, most scientists believed that the Challenger Deep was the deepest point of our Earth.
Keyword---Recently.
I work for the NOAA, or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as a submersible pilot. I've been on countless dives, and seen countless things. It is an amazing job, one that I can't imagine ever not taking. If there is one place to appreciate nature, and life as we know it, it's the ocean.
Yet, the vastness of the ocean is a horrifying concept. We are slow in the water, and in the parts of the ocean where you can't see anything below you, it is hard to shake the thought of some massive marine predator snatching you up in it's jaws.
Despite this, our research knows no bounds, and around a month ago, my team made a massive discovery.
A shift in the tectonic plates showed us that, in the cracks of the Challenger Deep, there was something below it. An entirely unexplored and unknown region of our world. The team was ecstatic, and negotiations for a press release were immediately brought to our supervisor.
Unfortunately, he decided not to go ahead with the news just yet. According to him, after talks with the heads of the NOAA, they wanted us to go on an expedition to see what was there, and then showcase our findings to the world.
I wasn't pleased with this, but I knew that it would make a better headline in the news if we actually found stuff down there.
As one of the most experienced submersible pilots, I was chosen to head the mission. It would be a solo mission, one that, in my supervisor's words, "would change the way we saw the ocean forever."
So, after a ton of preparations and warnings and papers, my submersible was hovering over the water, my legs pointed directly at the opening to this new deeper subsection of Earth's crust.
My submersible, named Apollo by me, was reinforced heavily, with intense fortifications and the best titanium money could buy. She was a beautiful thing, one that I could never see myself as worthy of piloting.
Yet, with one swift motion, I was dropped into sea.
I won't bore you with the details of the descent, as nothing out of the ordinary occurred. I saw numerous creatures, critters, and otherwise, but nothing there was something I hadnt seen before.
Aside from a sperm whale swimming above me that made me nearly shit myself.
After roughly 3 hours, I had finally hit the Challenger Deep. Admittedly, I was a little scared. Despite my numerous adventures into the bowels of deep blue, I had never actually been here at the bottom.
It was empty. Not a speck of life besides maybe some bacteria. If loneliness could have a textbook definition, it would be this. Dark, cold, and desolate. The fact anything could live down here whatsoever was unbelievable.
"Move forward." My intercom sprung to life, jolting me out of my complete awe. I had completely forgotten why I was here, trapped in the sheer complexity of the nothingness of this place.
I complied, moving Apollo upwards a bit.
And that's when I saw it. A massive gash in the seafloor, stretching for what could've been miles. It was wide, too, almost the entire width of a school bus. This wasn't what wash shown in our scannings, with the gap being smaller and less wide.
Whatever we had seen before, it had expanded.
I reported this to my supervisor, who shared the same mild preturbance that I did. "Maybe another shift occurred here recently...maybe." His lackluster answer to my report did not inspire confidence, but I had to keep going.
"I'm about to enter the opening." I said, with a very obvious amount of uncertainty in my voice.
"Go ahead. Good luck, man." My supervisor responded.
And with that, I entered the new deepest point of our Earth.
The opening was normal in nature, with nothing but rock and Earth surrounding my descent for the first 20 meters or so.
However, after this, it all became dark again. There was no more wall, no more gash. I checked my sonar, and my mouth dropped to the floor in sheer amazement.
I was inside a gigantic cave, nearly 1 mile on diameter.
I was at a loss of words, my thoughts taking over where my mouth couldn't.
My mind began to race, with intense ideas and fears and terrors unveiling themselves. What could be down here, is it dangerous, will I die, etcetera.
I reported my findings to my supervisor, who was, just like me, completely starstruck.
"Are you sure that's what you see?" My supervisor sputtered out.
"Yes."
This submarine had been equipped with all the latest technology, and one of those was a radar, just in case anything like a whale or other large creature happened to be approaching me. This radar never failed, but it hadnt sprung to life in hours due to the lack of anything big at this depth.
Yet, it was suddenly firing off. I moved to look at it, and to my both amazement and terror, 5 large blips were moving towards me.
I tried to keep myself together, desperately breathing in and out in a pathetic attempt to keep myself from hyperventilating. But it wasn't working.
Nothing of this size should be down at this depth.
My mind began to picture beasts, monsters, and ravenous creatures coming to rip me apart.
In my nervous state, I hadnt realized my supervisor had been trying to talk to me.
After nearly tripping over myself, I clumsily reopened the line.
"Why have you stopped? What is it?" My supervisor sternly, yet curiously asked.
"There's 5...something moving towards me, sir. I have no idea what they are." I stammered out, my voice shaky and completely broken by the fear that gripped my throat.
"Wait, are you serious? How big are they?" My supervisor asked.
I checked the blips. They were 5 seconds from my position. They weren't massive, but they were still too big for this environment, a solid 7-9 feet in length.
"Roughly 8 fe-"
Just then, I felt a strong, hard, and intense hit come from the outside. Not like something was trying to break in, but rather like something had bumped into Apollo.
I checked the 3-D cameras, checking the side at which I felt the collision.
I caught a glimpse of a tail, floating off into the darkness. It looked rigid and crustacean-like, shaped almost like an ace of spades.
As I tried to make sense of it, another bump came from above. Whatever these things were, they were strong. Not strong enough to break through titanium, but strong enough to move the vessel a solid foot.
I checked the cameras again, this time seeing a pair of legs. They looked like the came from some sort of insect, akin to the legs of a spider, but thicker and with barbs. Once again, it floated into the darkness.
Once again, a hit came, this time targeting the pilot's chamber, scaring the piss out of me.
I didn't need to check the cameras. The thing hit my window, and it didn't move from my view.
I was completely stuck, entranced by what could only be described as a miracle of nature.
A living fossil.
Floating in front of me, locking it's round, pure black eyes with me, practically hypnotizing me to admire it's sheer beauty, was a massive, yellowish tan prehistoric creature.
A eurypterid, commonly known by paleontologists and biologists as a sea scorpion.
I was dumbfounded. Sea scorpions had gone extinct over 250 million years ago when the Great Dying happened, otherwise known as the Permian Extinction Event.
Eurypterids were completely wiped out by this, so I was at a loss of words. No words could ever describe what I was feeling.
I think it was admiring me back. It surely hadnt seen humans before.
It tilted its insect-y head at me, wondering what I was.
Suddenly, more of them came to the window, dumbfounded at what they were seeing.
Baby sea scorpions sat atop what I assumed was their mothers, analyzing and internalizing what I was.
I began taking photographs of the sea scorpions, and sent them to my supervisor.
He beamed back to me on the intercom, as the cheers of my colleagues rang out in the background.
"This is an amazing find! Do you see anything else?"
"Not right now, but I'll update you if I do."
As I resigned from the intercom once again, the sea scorpions continued to look at me. They almost seemed to gawk at me, as I did the same to them.
Suddenly, the all cleared, and a much larger, older looking one got up to the glass.
My submersible had arms, grabbers used to move away debris and rocks/minerals. It moved it's shelled body to the arms, rubbing up against it, before lowering its head to show me a large parasite that had binded to it.
I was confused as to what it was incentivizing, until finally I understood that it wanted me to remove the thing.
The arms were not surgical, but fortunately, this parasite was big, meaning the arms could hopefully remove it. I knew it was risky, and if I accidentally killed it, I could be in massive trouble.
However, somewhere deep within me, I knew it was desperate. So, as carefully as I could, I maneuvered the arms to reach the critter. It was very much like piloting a claw machine, with every movement a stresser on my psyche.
Finally, I had a good grip on the parasite, with the other arm holding the elder sea scorpion's head steady, and with one good tug, the little shit came right off.
The sea scorpion jolted, shaking its head in what I could only assume was pain.
Yet, once the pain subsided, it looked happy, spinning in place with an upbeat pattern.
It got back up to the window, and with a happy, almost animal like bunt against Apollo, it descended back into the depths, with the rest of its family unit following it.
With that experience over, I descended further, my mind straight and my heart beating with just a little more pride.
I reported the encounter with my staff, who, when shown photos, absolutely thrilled. Fortunately, my supervisor was happy with me, and greenlighted the further descent.
The sonar continued to prove my suspicion, with the cave proving to be a worthwhile endeavor for the entire NOAA.
Eventually, I reached the middle of the cave, when the radar came back to life. Something was approaching the ship again, something absolutely gigantic. It must've been at least 60 feet in length.
Now, I was someone who generally despised people who promoted the idea of Megalodon living in the trench.
However, seeing the radar blip with a massive white dot, you can't blame me for being scared shitless of whatever was approaching.
I had already seen a literal living fossil, and I wasn't against the idea of a massive monster being down here anymore.
However, my fears were calmed as I realized how slow it was moving. Hell, it might as well have been sitting still.
I entered the intercom again to my supervisor, who told me to move towards it. Despite my fears, curiosity got the best of me, and I moved towards the blip.
In the darkness, I couldn't see a damn thing, so I began to brace myself for a collision, just in case.
But I never reached it. Not before it let out a deep, loud, and inundating shockwave of noise.
It sounded like a whales call, but significantly louder and with more bass. My head rung from the sound, my heart nearly exploding out of sheer terror and anxiety.
Suddenly, the lights came face to face with the source of the noise.
Thinking back on it now, humans really are tiny in comparison to some things. We are the apex predator, but we definitely aren't the top dogs in some areas. Size is definitely one of them.
In front of Apollo was a gigantic fish, bony and large. Its head looked like it was made exclusively from bone, armored and rigid. The rest of its figure slowly came into view, it's large body unveiling itself to the light.
Another living fossil. A large, healthy, and majestic fish.
Leedsichthys.
The behemoth paid me no mind, it's gargantuan body regarding me with no more than what felt like a simple look.
Of course, I began taking photos, and sent them to my supervisor. The intercom shot to life again, and the ovation of my peers could be heard once more.
Eventually, it's large, scaly torso moved into the darkness, never to be seen again.
I was given the greenlight to go further down, but I realized after 3 seconds of descent that I finally reached the bottom.
It was different than the Challenger Deep. It was gray in color, with little to no sand on its surface. Jagged scars permeated from its surface, scattered across a variety of areas.
What was interesting was that the bottom felt soft, almost like it was a cushion rather than rock.
I began talking to my supervisor, discussing what the next move was.
He wanted to explore the place further, to see if any other living fossils existed down here.
I couldn't blame him, everything we knew about the ocean and its inhabitants had been flipped on its head. It was amazing.
As I began to move forward, something odd happened. The ground beneath me began to vibrate a bit.
At first I attributed it to shifting plates, but then, out of no where, the ground moved completely, nearly knocking over Apollo.
Suddenly, the radar blipped a dot out, but it wasn't a dot at all.
The white blip I would've usually seen encompassed almost the entire radar circle, as if the entire area around me was a living organism.
I then did a sonar scan, and saw what my mind had been trying to suppress ever since the radar did what it did.
What could only be described as a leviathan was moving, and this movement was occurring right beneath me.
What I had landed on wasn't ground.
It was a living thing.
And I had just woke it up.
In my panic, I tried to turn on the intercom, but it wouldn't even go. The station I had been using to communicate with my team had been taken completely off the system.
So, I did the only other thing left.
Get the hell out.
I began piloting the submersible out of dodge, moving it as fast as it could go.
Suddenly, Apollo stopped completely. Her engine was on, but she wouldnt budge, I checked the sonar, and I wasnt stuck on anything.
It simply wouldn't budge.
The intercom then came on, but my supervisor's voice was replaced by a loud, yellowing, and deep voice.
"No. Stay."
I was completely frozen, my mind a jumble of fear, shock, and confusion.
Was it...talking to me?
I slowly shot the intercom back on.
"Who...are you?" I stammered out, my voice a complete mess of sounds and obvious nervousness.
The creature bellowed back, it's voice calm, yet commanding.
"I am not a who. Even if I were, it does not matter."
My mind began jumbling thoughts, many associated with how on Earth this thing was speaking English, or for that matter, speaking at all.
"Why are you here. How did you find this place."
I responded truthfully.
"I...I am a marine explorer. A shift in Earth's c-crust opened up a hole beyond what we thought was the deepest point of Earth. I was tasked with going in."
I couldn't see it, and thank god I couldn't. It probably would've given me a heart attack.
But I could tell it was thinking of what to say.
"...are you here to harm or to heal."
I was scared to answer, but I had helped that sea scorpion earlier. I thought that, if what I believed was my life being on the line, telling this deep sea monster I had helped it would be useful.
"Earlier, I encountered some eurypterids...I-I he-helped this elder one with a parasite."
It intook my words, and responded back.
"Thank you."
In the calming nature of its voice, I eased slightly, my mind gaining some clarity to ask it further questions.
"What...what is this place?" I asked.
The creature didn't respond for a while, but after what felt like eons, it finally spoke up.
"Many, many years ago, long before your species ever walked this planet, species of different eras managed to survive their respective calamities. The "eurypterids" as you call them, were not suited for their new world. So, I called upon them to descend to this cavern, instilling them with an increased strength and tolerance for the conditions here. As time passed, more water-dwelling creatures came, and they now reside here. I am the guardian of this place, my purpose solely to defend and protect the nature here."
I was at a loss of words. This...thing, whatever it was, was inherently some sort of underwater deity. I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around the concept before it spoke through the intercom again.
"You shouldn't be here."
I snapped out of my thoughts, and upon hearing this, I became more confused than ever.
I guess it could understand what I was thinking, because it fired up the intercom again.
"You and your congregation are...benevolent. But the rest of your kind is not. They pillage, loot, and destroy the ecosystem above. Many recent underwater creatures have come here, and they speak of you and your species' mayhem. I will seal this hole again, and you are to never return here. Do not tell any of your kind of my existence, and leave with the knowledge you have now, but no more."
I understood. It was right, unfortunately.
"I see..." I muttered.
The beast did not speak through the intercom this time, only making an incomprehensibly loud bellow that, if anywhere else, could've most likely took down a whole city through decibels alone.
Before I began to comply and go ahead and ascend, one more question entered my mind.
"How did...you end up here?"
The intercom stayed silent for the longest time, before it echoed to life for the last time of my journey.
"Some secrets are best left secrets."
A part of me was slightly annoyed at this, but I understood.
And so, I began my ascent.
After resurfacing, my colleagues bombarded me with questions, demanding to know why I had basically gone of the grid.
My supervisor was majorly pissed.
But at the end of the day, none of it mattered.
The next day, in the dead of night, I went back to my post on the station to see if the hole had closed, and sure enough, it did.
I dont think I'll ever forget my experiences in the deep, and to be frank, who could? It was a jarring experience, and one that I think I'll never be able to truly comprehend.
The media couldn't get it either, as the images of modern day prehistoric monsters have swept through the internet like wildfire, with every site on the web talking about how interesting this truly is.
If another crack forms, or Earth cuts open again and we find another one of these, however, I will not go back.
For I still dont know what it was.
And I dont want to find out.
#entertainment
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The Challenger Deep is the deepest point of our planet. 6.8 miles below the ground we walk on, and nearly completely desolate. A true marvel of the Earth, and a miraculous piece of geography.
Up until recently, most scientists believed that the Challenger Deep was the deepest point of our Earth.
Keyword---Recently.
I work for the NOAA, or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as a submersible pilot. I've been on countless dives, and seen countless things. It is an amazing job, one that I can't imagine ever not taking. If there is one place to appreciate nature, and life as we know it, it's the ocean.
Yet, the vastness of the ocean is a horrifying concept. We are slow in the water, and in the parts of the ocean where you can't see anything below you, it is hard to shake the thought of some massive marine predator snatching you up in it's jaws.
Despite this, our research knows no bounds, and around a month ago, my team made a massive discovery.
A shift in the tectonic plates showed us that, in the cracks of the Challenger Deep, there was something below it. An entirely unexplored and unknown region of our world. The team was ecstatic, and negotiations for a press release were immediately brought to our supervisor.
Unfortunately, he decided not to go ahead with the news just yet. According to him, after talks with the heads of the NOAA, they wanted us to go on an expedition to see what was there, and then showcase our findings to the world.
I wasn't pleased with this, but I knew that it would make a better headline in the news if we actually found stuff down there.
As one of the most experienced submersible pilots, I was chosen to head the mission. It would be a solo mission, one that, in my supervisor's words, "would change the way we saw the ocean forever."
So, after a ton of preparations and warnings and papers, my submersible was hovering over the water, my legs pointed directly at the opening to this new deeper subsection of Earth's crust.
My submersible, named Apollo by me, was reinforced heavily, with intense fortifications and the best titanium money could buy. She was a beautiful thing, one that I could never see myself as worthy of piloting.
Yet, with one swift motion, I was dropped into sea.
I won't bore you with the details of the descent, as nothing out of the ordinary occurred. I saw numerous creatures, critters, and otherwise, but nothing there was something I hadnt seen before.
Aside from a sperm whale swimming above me that made me nearly shit myself.
After roughly 3 hours, I had finally hit the Challenger Deep. Admittedly, I was a little scared. Despite my numerous adventures into the bowels of deep blue, I had never actually been here at the bottom.
It was empty. Not a speck of life besides maybe some bacteria. If loneliness could have a textbook definition, it would be this. Dark, cold, and desolate. The fact anything could live down here whatsoever was unbelievable.
"Move forward." My intercom sprung to life, jolting me out of my complete awe. I had completely forgotten why I was here, trapped in the sheer complexity of the nothingness of this place.
I complied, moving Apollo upwards a bit.
And that's when I saw it. A massive gash in the seafloor, stretching for what could've been miles. It was wide, too, almost the entire width of a school bus. This wasn't what wash shown in our scannings, with the gap being smaller and less wide.
Whatever we had seen before, it had expanded.
I reported this to my supervisor, who shared the same mild preturbance that I did. "Maybe another shift occurred here recently...maybe." His lackluster answer to my report did not inspire confidence, but I had to keep going.
"I'm about to enter the opening." I said, with a very obvious amount of uncertainty in my voice.
"Go ahead. Good luck, man." My supervisor responded.
And with that, I entered the new deepest point of our Earth.
The opening was normal in nature, with nothing but rock and Earth surrounding my descent for the first 20 meters or so.
However, after this, it all became dark again. There was no more wall, no more gash. I checked my sonar, and my mouth dropped to the floor in sheer amazement.
I was inside a gigantic cave, nearly 1 mile on diameter.
I was at a loss of words, my thoughts taking over where my mouth couldn't.
My mind began to race, with intense ideas and fears and terrors unveiling themselves. What could be down here, is it dangerous, will I die, etcetera.
I reported my findings to my supervisor, who was, just like me, completely starstruck.
"Are you sure that's what you see?" My supervisor sputtered out.
"Yes."
This submarine had been equipped with all the latest technology, and one of those was a radar, just in case anything like a whale or other large creature happened to be approaching me. This radar never failed, but it hadnt sprung to life in hours due to the lack of anything big at this depth.
Yet, it was suddenly firing off. I moved to look at it, and to my both amazement and terror, 5 large blips were moving towards me.
I tried to keep myself together, desperately breathing in and out in a pathetic attempt to keep myself from hyperventilating. But it wasn't working.
Nothing of this size should be down at this depth.
My mind began to picture beasts, monsters, and ravenous creatures coming to rip me apart.
In my nervous state, I hadnt realized my supervisor had been trying to talk to me.
After nearly tripping over myself, I clumsily reopened the line.
"Why have you stopped? What is it?" My supervisor sternly, yet curiously asked.
"There's 5...something moving towards me, sir. I have no idea what they are." I stammered out, my voice shaky and completely broken by the fear that gripped my throat.
"Wait, are you serious? How big are they?" My supervisor asked.
I checked the blips. They were 5 seconds from my position. They weren't massive, but they were still too big for this environment, a solid 7-9 feet in length.
"Roughly 8 fe-"
Just then, I felt a strong, hard, and intense hit come from the outside. Not like something was trying to break in, but rather like something had bumped into Apollo.
I checked the 3-D cameras, checking the side at which I felt the collision.
I caught a glimpse of a tail, floating off into the darkness. It looked rigid and crustacean-like, shaped almost like an ace of spades.
As I tried to make sense of it, another bump came from above. Whatever these things were, they were strong. Not strong enough to break through titanium, but strong enough to move the vessel a solid foot.
I checked the cameras again, this time seeing a pair of legs. They looked like the came from some sort of insect, akin to the legs of a spider, but thicker and with barbs. Once again, it floated into the darkness.
Once again, a hit came, this time targeting the pilot's chamber, scaring the piss out of me.
I didn't need to check the cameras. The thing hit my window, and it didn't move from my view.
I was completely stuck, entranced by what could only be described as a miracle of nature.
A living fossil.
Floating in front of me, locking it's round, pure black eyes with me, practically hypnotizing me to admire it's sheer beauty, was a massive, yellowish tan prehistoric creature.
A eurypterid, commonly known by paleontologists and biologists as a sea scorpion.
I was dumbfounded. Sea scorpions had gone extinct over 250 million years ago when the Great Dying happened, otherwise known as the Permian Extinction Event.
Eurypterids were completely wiped out by this, so I was at a loss of words. No words could ever describe what I was feeling.
I think it was admiring me back. It surely hadnt seen humans before.
It tilted its insect-y head at me, wondering what I was.
Suddenly, more of them came to the window, dumbfounded at what they were seeing.
Baby sea scorpions sat atop what I assumed was their mothers, analyzing and internalizing what I was.
I began taking photographs of the sea scorpions, and sent them to my supervisor.
He beamed back to me on the intercom, as the cheers of my colleagues rang out in the background.
"This is an amazing find! Do you see anything else?"
"Not right now, but I'll update you if I do."
As I resigned from the intercom once again, the sea scorpions continued to look at me. They almost seemed to gawk at me, as I did the same to them.
Suddenly, the all cleared, and a much larger, older looking one got up to the glass.
My submersible had arms, grabbers used to move away debris and rocks/minerals. It moved it's shelled body to the arms, rubbing up against it, before lowering its head to show me a large parasite that had binded to it.
I was confused as to what it was incentivizing, until finally I understood that it wanted me to remove the thing.
The arms were not surgical, but fortunately, this parasite was big, meaning the arms could hopefully remove it. I knew it was risky, and if I accidentally killed it, I could be in massive trouble.
However, somewhere deep within me, I knew it was desperate. So, as carefully as I could, I maneuvered the arms to reach the critter. It was very much like piloting a claw machine, with every movement a stresser on my psyche.
Finally, I had a good grip on the parasite, with the other arm holding the elder sea scorpion's head steady, and with one good tug, the little shit came right off.
The sea scorpion jolted, shaking its head in what I could only assume was pain.
Yet, once the pain subsided, it looked happy, spinning in place with an upbeat pattern.
It got back up to the window, and with a happy, almost animal like bunt against Apollo, it descended back into the depths, with the rest of its family unit following it.
With that experience over, I descended further, my mind straight and my heart beating with just a little more pride.
I reported the encounter with my staff, who, when shown photos, absolutely thrilled. Fortunately, my supervisor was happy with me, and greenlighted the further descent.
The sonar continued to prove my suspicion, with the cave proving to be a worthwhile endeavor for the entire NOAA.
Eventually, I reached the middle of the cave, when the radar came back to life. Something was approaching the ship again, something absolutely gigantic. It must've been at least 60 feet in length.
Now, I was someone who generally despised people who promoted the idea of Megalodon living in the trench.
However, seeing the radar blip with a massive white dot, you can't blame me for being scared shitless of whatever was approaching.
I had already seen a literal living fossil, and I wasn't against the idea of a massive monster being down here anymore.
However, my fears were calmed as I realized how slow it was moving. Hell, it might as well have been sitting still.
I entered the intercom again to my supervisor, who told me to move towards it. Despite my fears, curiosity got the best of me, and I moved towards the blip.
In the darkness, I couldn't see a damn thing, so I began to brace myself for a collision, just in case.
But I never reached it. Not before it let out a deep, loud, and inundating shockwave of noise.
It sounded like a whales call, but significantly louder and with more bass. My head rung from the sound, my heart nearly exploding out of sheer terror and anxiety.
Suddenly, the lights came face to face with the source of the noise.
Thinking back on it now, humans really are tiny in comparison to some things. We are the apex predator, but we definitely aren't the top dogs in some areas. Size is definitely one of them.
In front of Apollo was a gigantic fish, bony and large. Its head looked like it was made exclusively from bone, armored and rigid. The rest of its figure slowly came into view, it's large body unveiling itself to the light.
Another living fossil. A large, healthy, and majestic fish.
Leedsichthys.
The behemoth paid me no mind, it's gargantuan body regarding me with no more than what felt like a simple look.
Of course, I began taking photos, and sent them to my supervisor. The intercom shot to life again, and the ovation of my peers could be heard once more.
Eventually, it's large, scaly torso moved into the darkness, never to be seen again.
I was given the greenlight to go further down, but I realized after 3 seconds of descent that I finally reached the bottom.
It was different than the Challenger Deep. It was gray in color, with little to no sand on its surface. Jagged scars permeated from its surface, scattered across a variety of areas.
What was interesting was that the bottom felt soft, almost like it was a cushion rather than rock.
I began talking to my supervisor, discussing what the next move was.
He wanted to explore the place further, to see if any other living fossils existed down here.
I couldn't blame him, everything we knew about the ocean and its inhabitants had been flipped on its head. It was amazing.
As I began to move forward, something odd happened. The ground beneath me began to vibrate a bit.
At first I attributed it to shifting plates, but then, out of no where, the ground moved completely, nearly knocking over Apollo.
Suddenly, the radar blipped a dot out, but it wasn't a dot at all.
The white blip I would've usually seen encompassed almost the entire radar circle, as if the entire area around me was a living organism.
I then did a sonar scan, and saw what my mind had been trying to suppress ever since the radar did what it did.
What could only be described as a leviathan was moving, and this movement was occurring right beneath me.
What I had landed on wasn't ground.
It was a living thing.
And I had just woke it up.
In my panic, I tried to turn on the intercom, but it wouldn't even go. The station I had been using to communicate with my team had been taken completely off the system.
So, I did the only other thing left.
Get the hell out.
I began piloting the submersible out of dodge, moving it as fast as it could go.
Suddenly, Apollo stopped completely. Her engine was on, but she wouldnt budge, I checked the sonar, and I wasnt stuck on anything.
It simply wouldn't budge.
The intercom then came on, but my supervisor's voice was replaced by a loud, yellowing, and deep voice.
"No. Stay."
I was completely frozen, my mind a jumble of fear, shock, and confusion.
Was it...talking to me?
I slowly shot the intercom back on.
"Who...are you?" I stammered out, my voice a complete mess of sounds and obvious nervousness.
The creature bellowed back, it's voice calm, yet commanding.
"I am not a who. Even if I were, it does not matter."
My mind began jumbling thoughts, many associated with how on Earth this thing was speaking English, or for that matter, speaking at all.
"Why are you here. How did you find this place."
I responded truthfully.
"I...I am a marine explorer. A shift in Earth's c-crust opened up a hole beyond what we thought was the deepest point of Earth. I was tasked with going in."
I couldn't see it, and thank god I couldn't. It probably would've given me a heart attack.
But I could tell it was thinking of what to say.
"...are you here to harm or to heal."
I was scared to answer, but I had helped that sea scorpion earlier. I thought that, if what I believed was my life being on the line, telling this deep sea monster I had helped it would be useful.
"Earlier, I encountered some eurypterids...I-I he-helped this elder one with a parasite."
It intook my words, and responded back.
"Thank you."
In the calming nature of its voice, I eased slightly, my mind gaining some clarity to ask it further questions.
"What...what is this place?" I asked.
The creature didn't respond for a while, but after what felt like eons, it finally spoke up.
"Many, many years ago, long before your species ever walked this planet, species of different eras managed to survive their respective calamities. The "eurypterids" as you call them, were not suited for their new world. So, I called upon them to descend to this cavern, instilling them with an increased strength and tolerance for the conditions here. As time passed, more water-dwelling creatures came, and they now reside here. I am the guardian of this place, my purpose solely to defend and protect the nature here."
I was at a loss of words. This...thing, whatever it was, was inherently some sort of underwater deity. I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around the concept before it spoke through the intercom again.
"You shouldn't be here."
I snapped out of my thoughts, and upon hearing this, I became more confused than ever.
I guess it could understand what I was thinking, because it fired up the intercom again.
"You and your congregation are...benevolent. But the rest of your kind is not. They pillage, loot, and destroy the ecosystem above. Many recent underwater creatures have come here, and they speak of you and your species' mayhem. I will seal this hole again, and you are to never return here. Do not tell any of your kind of my existence, and leave with the knowledge you have now, but no more."
I understood. It was right, unfortunately.
"I see..." I muttered.
The beast did not speak through the intercom this time, only making an incomprehensibly loud bellow that, if anywhere else, could've most likely took down a whole city through decibels alone.
Before I began to comply and go ahead and ascend, one more question entered my mind.
"How did...you end up here?"
The intercom stayed silent for the longest time, before it echoed to life for the last time of my journey.
"Some secrets are best left secrets."
A part of me was slightly annoyed at this, but I understood.
And so, I began my ascent.
After resurfacing, my colleagues bombarded me with questions, demanding to know why I had basically gone of the grid.
My supervisor was majorly pissed.
But at the end of the day, none of it mattered.
The next day, in the dead of night, I went back to my post on the station to see if the hole had closed, and sure enough, it did.
I dont think I'll ever forget my experiences in the deep, and to be frank, who could? It was a jarring experience, and one that I think I'll never be able to truly comprehend.
The media couldn't get it either, as the images of modern day prehistoric monsters have swept through the internet like wildfire, with every site on the web talking about how interesting this truly is.
If another crack forms, or Earth cuts open again and we find another one of these, however, I will not go back.
For I still dont know what it was.
And I dont want to find out.
#entertainment
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